Chapter 52: Augur Mine (3)
[Quest Complete!]
[You have been awarded +100 Fame, +300 Timor Village Reputation and the item, Veiled Shadows!]
[Veiled Shadows has been sent into your storage space!]
Michael immediately gave his thanks to Farle before hurriedly making his way out of the shop.
"Alright~!" Michael smiled, while walking towards the gate where he passed through earlier after coming back Augur Mine.
Michael immediately equipped his Veiled Shadows, as he hastily made his way towards Augur Mine, as he wants to exploit the double exp as much as possible before its duration runs out.
When Michael equipped Veiled Shadows, he noticed that his attributes jumped up a bit, as his movement speed also increase along with his attack speed when he tried to kill a rabbit along the path.
"It’s still not as fast as I was in my peak though" Michael sighed to himself, as he once again trek through the same path he took earlier to travel to Augur Mine.
Arriving at his destination.
Michael hastily made his way to the entrance and ignored the people around the mine entrance, but just as he was about to enter the mine, a huge shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his way.
Michael halted in his footstep, and gaze at the figure blocking his way through the opening of his hood.
"Kekeke, you’re that new runt that actually managed to mine Mithril Ores. You’re weak, but you were actually able to go deep inside the mine and dug up those ores" an NPC called Shank, laughed heartily, as the other NPCs paying attention to them, laughed along with him.
Michael had a bitter smile to himself, as he sure knows that it wasn’t easy for him to traverse deep into the mines as he had to face monsters that would get stronger the deeper he goes, and that’s the reason why it took him over three hours to even finish the quest.
Michael then got pulled over by the NPC to their side, where he started chatted with them and they also told him about their experiences inside the mine, like where this specific ore could be dug up, or this ore and that ore.
And at the end, he was surprised to hear that they actually invited him to join them as they are also preparing to go back inside for one last time before heading back to Timor Village.
’Wow, is this the effect of Fame or is it because I finally had a reputation with the village?’ Michael thought with joy as he followed behind the five NPCs as they headed inside Augur Mine.
"Anway, Fame or not. This is a good chance for me to level up and get some free loot, as we’ll surely meet monsters along the way"
*****
"What the?" Michael was so surprised that he just stood there and watched the monsters that he had a hard time killing before, got decimated like crushed potatoes by uncles...using pickaxes and shovels!
"Damn!" Michael was astounded, as the hobgoblins are just dying in one hit from the four NPCs, and without anything to do, he just started picking up the items from the ground one by one as his experience points is slowly rising every few seconds with every monster that gets killed, which is amazing even for him as its seems Michael and the other NPCs are considered as one party by the System because he’s receiving the right amount of Exp. Points even though he didn’t participate in killing the monsters.
"Come on! Keep up kid!" Shanks yelled at him, as Michael hurriedly picked up the remaining items on the ground and ran behind them, as they took the right path from an intersection ahead, that one road leads towards the left and the other one leads straight ahead.
"Wahh, I’m actually being power leveled by NPCs"
"I think this is a first in the history of VR Games"
Michael chuckled as he stabbed his dagger at the back of a goblin while the rest are killing all of the hobgoblins hanging around at the area they had arrived to.
[You have leveled up!]
A few minutes later, Michael had once again gained a level as they arrived in front of a wide area or expanse inside the mine, where the sound of metal hitting a rock reverberated throughout the area, where Michael caught sight of numerous NPCs mining around the area.
All of them as strong as the NPCs that brought Michael here.
"Brat! Come over here! I’ll show you how to properly mine and determine where an ore is lying around" Shank yelled at him, as he beckoned for him to come over to his side.
Michael immediately made his way towards him, as he took out his pickaxe from his storage space.
"Do you see this...." Shank started giving him lessons the moment he arrived at his side, as he showed Michael the ropes of a proper miner, and he also noticed that a change occurred on the NPC called Shanks.
[Level 31] [Shanks Adley] [Master Miner]
[Shanks is one of the few miners throughout the entire continent who mastered the art of mining. Unlike Master Blacksmiths, Master Miners only numbered a few and that they can only be counted in two hands!]
’Wah! So Master Miners are actually rarer than Master Blacksmiths?’ Michael was amazed, and at the same time, he thought that it was actually understandable because he already experienced how freaking hard to even mine for ores, while Blacksmiths only needs to sit around all day in their forge and smith weapons or tools.
[You have learned the skill [Beginner Mining] from the Master Miner Shanks!]
A message window immediately appeared in front of Michael just after Shanks finished his lesson.
"Did you understand it?" Shanks turned to Michael and asked, while striking the rock wall in front of him, using his huge pickaxe.
"Yes, thank you Mr. Shanks!" Michael answered with delight, as he learned from Farle before that players or people could save a lot of money if they provide the materials for the desired item they want for a blacksmith to make.
"Alright, Let’s see if you really learned something from it!"
"Dig up 15 Mithril Ores and 30 Black Mithril and show it to me after you’re done with it!"
Michael almost spurted out blood when he heard what just came out of Shanks mouth.
’Dammit! Why Mithril Ore of all things!? Shouldn’t it be something easier as I’m still a beginner for this kind of thing!?’
’It took me three hours just to dig up 30 of them!’